Microsoft mocks software rivals with dual-core chip embrace
Posted by malebolgia on 19 October 2004 - 17:22 · 16 comments & 1291 views
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#1 Posted by xStainDx on 19 Oct 2004 - 17:27
- Go Microsoft!

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#2 Posted by slapnuts_ox on 19 Oct 2004 - 17:28
- Typically I don't agree with what microsoft does or their business pratices but when it comes to this article all I can say is I fully agree with MS on this issue and I fully support this. Good job MS!
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#3 Posted by bangbang023 on 19 Oct 2004 - 20:55
- This is what happens when there's competition. Simple as that.
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#4 Posted by Mav Phoenix on 19 Oct 2004 - 20:58
- Very nice.
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#5 Posted by Axon on 19 Oct 2004 - 20:59
- What to stick it to the man MS
. Lets wait to see how the Fanboys of Neowin will boast this
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#6 Posted by denzilla on 19 Oct 2004 - 21:06
- Its damn stupid to charge extra for a dual cpu machine anyway.
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(1 reply)
#7 Posted by emel on 19 Oct 2004 - 21:37
QUOTE Its damn stupid to charge extra for a dual cpu machine anyway
very true... even not counting dual core but all the intel dual xeon processors systems will count as two computers ( dont know if that already happens).-
#7.1 Posted by rafter109 on 22 Oct 2004 - 04:11
- I don't know if you realize this but if you look at a Windows XP OEM COA sticker, it says 1-2 CPU. Microsoft has not charged extra for dual processor machines and since dual core chips are really 1 cpu with 2 ALUs they still fall under the 1 CPU category, making it legitimate to install XP OEM on a 2-Dual Core CPU system. We didn't need Microsoft's outright approval because it is already stated on the COA. If MS wanted to deny this and make a lawsuit over it, it would be a quick defeat on their behalf. So the lesson of this story is that a Dual Core CPU is not technically 2 CPU's since there is more to a CPU than just an ALU.
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(5 replies)
#8 Posted by Shining Arcanine on 19 Oct 2004 - 21:51
- The Register always has to make Microsoft sound like a bad guy. Can't they just accept that Microsoft cares about people? In some cases so much that they end up not caring about people (e.g. standards).
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#8.1 Posted by markjensen on 19 Oct 2004 - 23:09
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Microsoft is a corporation. The only part of "people" they care about is the wallet. Such is the nature of a corporation (which has responsibilities to their shareholders). -
#8.2 Posted by SniperX on 19 Oct 2004 - 23:15
- lol I had to read that twice to make sure I hadn't misread it. You truly and absolutely believe that Microsoft's objective is to make smiley happy people? When they design that next piece of software, you believe their real thinking is "Now how can we make this product work better for Jo Public", as opposed to "Who are we aiming this product at, how much do they spend on average per year on software products, what are our profit margins, where do the stats show we would be best advertising, etc."
You, the customer, are just a demographic. Nothing more than that. -
#8.3 Posted by Jugalator on 19 Oct 2004 - 23:27
- Heh, yes, I agree The Register can be a bit too whiney at times, but it's equally silly to think MS "cares about people".
They're a company with a company's goals, not mother Teresa...
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#8.4 Posted by shao on 20 Oct 2004 - 08:31
- conisdering the fact that people like a good smooth software experience i don't think it's too much to claim ms care about people. Granted, not as much as the bottom line.
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#8.5 Posted by threedaysdwn on 20 Oct 2004 - 11:41
QUOTE lol I had to read that twice to make sure I hadn't misread it. You truly and absolutely believe that Microsoft's objective is to make smiley happy people? When they design that next piece of software, you believe their real thinking is "Now how can we make this product work better for Jo Public", as opposed to "Who are we aiming this product at, how much do they spend on average per year on software products, what are our profit margins, where do the stats show we would be best advertising, etc."
Microsoft itself is a corporation, yes. It's objective is to maintain liquidity and profitability.
But the people at Microsoft are a different story. Many (or most) of them care a great deal about moving the industry forward for the benefit of all. I know for a fact that many of them think "Now how can we make this product better for our users" every day.
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#9 Posted by figgy on 19 Oct 2004 - 23:26
- Yay! Microsoft
This is very good news.
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#10 Posted by kronix2 on 20 Oct 2004 - 13:41
- Somehow I get the feeling that the INQ's stance on this is right. AMD and Intel would have leaned on Microsoft about this. Charging more would make Microsoft's OSes more expensive than they already are.
Do they want people to switch to Linux? No, which is why they're not charging extra for two cores.
malebolgia
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Anytime, however, that Microsoft comes off looking rosier than Oracle and IBM in a pricing issue, you know deeper motives than just customer satisfaction are at hand. Oracle, IBM, Veritas, BEA and a host of others have considerably more to lose than Microsoft from multicore chips in the short term. For starters, all of these vendors run their software on Unix and Linux servers, which are already running on dual-core chips from IBM, Sun Microsystems and HP. At the most basic level, these software makers would lose half of their revenue on a per processor pricing scheme if they gave in to the chip makers. (IBM is an especially interesting case as it has DB2 and WebSphere code to profit from and makes its own Power5 chip).
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